Here come the Banu!

It’s been a week… so it must be time for another “Star Citizen has made another million dollars” post… so… Star Citizen has made another million dollars.

 

Just a few minutes ago, we crossed over that $27 Million mark… thus unlocking the Banu Merchantman (and, according to Chris Roberts’ congratulatory post, we’ll get a crack at it during the big sale on the 26th (so, with LTI for people who get it!)).

Here’s the full text of the $27 Million goal, and the blurb from Chris about availability:

  • Banu Merchantman Unlocked – Banu traders are renowed for their merchant prowess, traveling the spacelanes and trading with everyone from humans to the Vanduul! Their sturdy, dedicated trading ships are prized beyond all other transports, sometimes passing from generation to generation of Banu. At $23 million we dedicated additional resources to making Xi’An spacecraft a unique experience. At $27 million, we will expand that same thinking to the Banu! Starting with the merchant ship, the design team will expand Banu technology to offer players a completely different way of experiencing their universe.

We’re eager to get to work building out the Banu spaceflight systems… watch this space to learn how we’re going to make it a distinct experience from flying a human-designed ship. And since we hit this goal before November 26th, the Banu merchantman will be one of the ships available during the sale (you heard it here first!)

Guess I better warm up the wallet for the 26th… I want that Merchantman (assuming it’s reasonably priced, perhaps I’ll melt down my Caterpillar to help pay for it).

The $29 Million goal has been revealed, and this one takes a break from the ‘MMO’ portion of the game, to provide some added boost to the Squadron 42 single player game:

  • Enhanced Mission Design for Squadron 42 – The team at Foundry 42 has big plans for Squadron 42, and we’re going to provide extra funding to make it a true spiritual successor to Wing Commander! Squadron 42 can go above and beyond anything you’ve seen before. From opening with an epic battle instead of a training patrol to missions that seamlessly combine boarding and space combat, we aim to put you right into the action! Additional funding will let the team realize this, with enhanced mission design and more resources and animations to enhance fidelity.

I’m all for additional resources being spent on the single player game (I think that’s what is going to ‘hook’ a lot of people into Star Citizen post release).  This goal, seems a bit more vague than previous stretch goals though.. Sounds like this will just be an overall enhancement to the development of the game, allowing for more “budget” for additional resources to do more animation work, scripting, etc..etc..  I’d prefer a more specific goal, but, I suppose some of that is harder to nail down for the single player game, versus the MMO part.

It’s exciting to see another funding milestone passed, it really looks like the overall pace of the funding is still going strong, and with the upcoming sale on the 26th (when LTI goes away for Original/Veteran backers)..it’s gonna get another really big boost too.  At this rate, it wouldn’t surprise me if Star Citizen passes the $30 Million mark by the end of November.  I do think that once LTI is gone for everyone the ‘million a week’ trend will slow down, and we’ll probably sit around the million a month mark for awhile (especially with the Holiday season coming up).

 

Because Chris Roberts is very good at teasing… he also gave us this shot of a Xi’an Capital ship’s concept art:

XI_Capital_ship_WIP02

 

 

So, see you in a week for $28 Million?